Sir Philip Sidney reminded comedians that when the audience is laughing they aren’t necessarily the better for it.
In 1579, Stephen Gosson wrote School of Abuse, accusing Elizabethan theatre of being a frivolous and bawdy distraction from England’s serious social problems. Some three years later, Sir Philip Sidney replied with An Apologie for Poetrie, a gentle defence of the drama; but even he could find little to say for comedians who thought that anything that raised a laugh was entertainment.